Debunking Foucault’s Philosophy 101

Michel Foucault (15 October 1926–25 June 1984) was a French philosopher and a major member of the French Poststructuralist movement, from which emerged modern Postmodernism. Modern Postmodernism contains two influential strands: one from the work of Jacques Derrida and the other from Foucault. The strand associated with Michel Foucault is derived from his work on power, knowledge and a relativist view of truth (for Foucault’s works see below).

Foucault was a radical leftist and a Marxist early in his career, and, even though he later repudiated Marxism, a certain type of Marxist class analysis is evident in his work. In his mature views, Foucault was a left libertarian or anarchist who distrusted all institutions, and who was in some respects a trailblazing advocate of identity politics and minority cultures. Foucault was also a representative of neo-Nietzschean thought in the late 20th century, albeit in rather original ways. Nietzschean irrationalism was a central element of Foucault’s thought, as was his denial of objective truth.

I regard Foucault’s work and Postmodernism in general as deeply flawed and a terrible blight on the intellectual life of the left. The central element of Foucault’s work was his rejection of objective truth – a self-defeating and absurd idea that lies at the heart of all irrationalism.

I collect below my posts criticising Foucault’s philosophy. A number of my critiques of Foucault are based on José Guilherme Merquior’s excellent book Foucault (London; 2nd edn. 1991), which I highly recommend as a critical overview of Foucault’s work.